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I was reading a book called Maelstrom by Peter Watts and I heard of a nucleic acid called pyranosyl RNA. According to the book (this chapter) the microbe that utilizes pRNA can withstand one megarad of gamma radiation (!).
Watts is is well known for basing his biology on real life research so it's possible that the high radiation resistance of pRNA could be true. So far I haven't found anything in the way of radiation resistance levels of the molecule, I'll talk about it when I find something.
This may have consequences for martian life. Could Martians have utilized pRNA? From what I can tell, pRNA needs water as a solvent, so the dry environment of Mars might not have any live martian microbes. But, if the high radiation tolerance is true, then there might be dormant martian microbes waiting to be discovered in frozen water deposits; the high rad resistance could mean they're still viable after a long time. Even better, if the theory of flowing water on Mars is true, then the microbes could become viable long enough to repair damage they could have sustained.
This is all theorizing; but if it's true, then Martian microbial life could be alive today.
Last edited by Rusakov (2012-12-20 22:54:54)
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Rusakov-
Firstly, welcome to Newmars! I hope to see more if you in the future.
With regards to your post, my general opinion on exobiology is anying is possible. Biology can cover an infinity of different chemical makeups and what we have on earth is just one possibility. It is conceivable that water and carbon could okay almost no part in the biology of some life forms.
It's hard to say which chemical configurations are better than others. We use a specific group of amino acids but that is certainly not a requirement for life.
With regards to that specific form of RNA, chemical bonds are chemical bonds. By this I mean that they are all at about the same energy levels and can therefore be destroyed by similar levels of radiation. I see no reason to believe that pRNA is superior to DNA in that respect. I'm no biologist, but I was actually under the impression that organisms on Earth may have been RNA based at one point but because DNA is more stable have since gone extinct.
So: yes, it's possible, but it's probably not significantly better than Life As We Know It.
-Josh
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